


BOYFRIEND MATERIAL

by OnlyOneWoman



Series: Neighbours & Flatmates [5]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Comfort/Angst, Confusion, Didn't Know They Were Dating, F/F, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Foster Care, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Multi, Neighbors, Physical Abuse, Protective Hal Gates, Trust Issues, a lot of memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:16:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8084602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnlyOneWoman/pseuds/OnlyOneWoman
Summary: This is the fifth part of a new piece with A LOT of Black Sails characters in modern time. I have some chapters done already, but I'm really not sure how it will end up. Some characters will be closer to the real Black Sails personalities, while I've taken some liberties with others. We will get to know florists, religious nuts, university teachers and a psychologist living in the same house in Southampton. Some characters will be blood relatives, some will be lovers, a lot of them are neighbours and even though Billy Bones is the main character, there will be a lot of side stories to his.I'm not yet clear with all the relationships - some of them have confused feelings - so we'll just see where it goes.





	1. A Trip Down Memory Lane (Tuesday Night)

”Hi there.”  
”Hi!”  
  
Bright smile, dark curls. Billy almost dropped his bag in the staircase.  
  
”You have plans for tonight?”  
”Um… no, I don’t think so.”  
”Cause in case you don’t, I was wondering if you’d like to have a pizza with me?”  
  
What was that? The curls hid it, but just barely. The mouth kept talking, but Billy didn’t hear. He blinked, and the vision changed…  
  
***  
  
”Who did that to you, kid?”  
”What?”  
”Those marks.”  
”No one.”  
”Who’s ’no one’?”  
”Doesn’t matter. Can I get dressed now?”  
”I want to know who did it, Billy.”  
” _Get out of my face!_ ”  
  
Billy’d been certain of it. The bruises and stripes were almost healed and he’d been very careful not showing any unnecessairy skin, using hoodies and longsleeves. Living with Hal Gates for about one and a half week had been a confused mix of healthy meals and no screaming, namecalling or beating. Luxuaries one couldn’t count on to continue for very long and shouting at him would most certainly either add a fresh bruise or taking away fresh food. Or both. As soon as Billy’s discomfort had made him shout at this harsh man who looked as if he could crush him with one strike, he prepared for it. A palm, a fist, a belt… He’d covered his face instinctively, waiting.  
  
”Good _God_ , kid… You really think I’d _hit_ you? I’ve never even considered _spanking_ a kid in my whole life and I’m _not_ mad at you. But I am really pissed at the one giving you that. Beat up a kid… It’s just _repulsive_!”  
  
Still not sure if it was safe to lift his face, Billy’d fixed his gaze on the shirt he’d gone up to change into, not closing the door and realising too late that Hal, who’d been upstairs just passing the hallway, catched a glimpse of his abused back. Billy’d been frozen on his spot, unable to move, body so tense it hurt. Adults walking in on him in whatever room that currently was ”his”, mostly ended in pain and humiliation.  
  
”Was it someone in school?”  
  
School? If he hadn’t been so scared for a start, he’d laughed. Insted he’d been angry. He was used to be in more or less constant pain and it had been a long time since he’d healed this much before getting another beating. He could take it, had taken it before and he didn’t cry anymore. At least not before he was left alone. How the fuck could this guy be so stupid he didn’t understand how Billy’d got these bruises and marks? For fucks sake, Billy’d had a three day old black eye the day he was brought to Gates! Did he really think that was the only one? The anger, fear and humiliation had pushed Billy over the edge.  
  
”Yeah right, _school_! I’m in constant fight with people using their fucking _belts_ on me! Just how fucking stupid are you?! If you’re not gonna give me a beating right now, could I please get dressed without you looking at me?”  
  
Hal had just left without a word, closing the door behind him and as soon as Billy was alone, he’d fallen to his knees, panting heavily, heart speeding. The shirt got stuck on his sweaty skin that in no time would be just as tarnished and sore as it had been when the social services picked him up after eight months of living hell. And the worst part was not knowing _how_ Hal would beat him. If he was gonna use his fists, or the belt or maybe he’d be one of those who really wanted to humiliate kids and try to tug his pants off, declaring that no one was too old for an old-fashioned spanking. Not knowing what to expect after months of daily beatings, scorn and detailed explanations of just how fucking worthless he was, had given Billy his first panic attack and it wasn’t pretty.  
  
He’d been crouched on the floor with the back to the bed and arms around his knees, too shaky and scared to stand. The soft knock on the door had made him press the knees tighter to his chest, a useless but automatic reaction that came as natural as breathing.  
  
”Billy? Can I come in?”  
  
As if Billy had an actual choice. Hal had taken to his knees beside him, sighing a little.  
  
”Look, kid… I don’t know much about raising a child and two weeks ago I had no idea that I’d suddenly be a foster parent to a teenager. They didn’t tell me much about you. I knew that you’d had a beating and I guess I was quite stupid for not realising it wasn’t only a black eye, nor only one beating… I’m afraid you’ve come to a rather slow man.”  
  
Billy still hadn’t dared to move, not even a little, and he’d squeezed his knees even tighter when Hal put a large hand on his head, stroking his hair. It was simple gesture of comfort no one had showed him in years, and the whole situation just became too confusing. About ten days of extremely mixed feelings finally took it’s toll and Billy began to cry. He’d been so tense, nerves constantly on the edge in this new environment that, simply because it was so _fucking normal_ , was utterly strange to him. Hal let him be. He didn’t talk, just kept company and stroke Billy’s hair, simply waiting for the crying to pass.  
  
Getting that space had meant a lot. He didn’t realise it back then, of course, but having someone who kept him company without pushing or intervene was something completely new. No judgement, no questions. Just a patient waiting.  
  
The situation had, of course, left Billy completely exhausted and as the tension slowly left him, he could barely move, his body feeling so heavy it seemed immovable. Hal had sighed.  
  
”Well, Billy Manderly, this is no good. Respecting your elders and following rules is one thing, and that I believe firmly in. But _fear_ … No that’s not how it’s supposed to be, kid. Can’t have you walking around here on edge like an alley cat. You’d just feel miserable and eventually it would make me crazy too. For as long as you’re under my roof, I’ll do my best to make you feel at home, but this is just as new for me as it is for you, so you’ve gotta help me a little as well.”  
”I can… do the dishes. And move the lawn.”  
  
At least he’d been able to give some form of answer, but Hal hadn’t had housework in mind.  
  
”I appreciate that, kid, and I could use a little help around here, but that’s not what I meant. I need to know a little about you that’s not on paper. This happened so fast I’ve not even had the time to read your files yet. I just know the most basic stuff, what Pattie told me, and to be honest I thought it would be better if you and I had a chance to get to know each other without too many preconceptions. And it’s not as if you had any papers about me before she took you here. I was born and raised in a house in Portsmouth, didn’t move until I was nineteen. My mom and dad were good people, I had four siblings to play with and my upbringing was about as normal as it could be, I guess. I don’t even know how many places you’ve stayed at until now…”  
”Fourteen. This is number fourteen.”  
” _Fourteen?!_ ”  
”Yeah…”  
”Jesus, kid… That’s just outrageous!”  
”It is what it is. Could’ve been worse.”  
  
It was in that moment Hal had learned just how different lives they’d lived. How different they still were. But it took years before Billy’d realised what the look Hal gave him at that little statement had meant. When he as a nineteen year old came home from Glasgow with the broken cheek bone – and that kind of broken heart you usually get when your first love turns out to be a dick – his foster dad had given him the exact same look. Horror. The kind of feeling you could allow yourself to show, if you had the luxuary of not constantly having to be on your guard. Hal had shaken his head at the thirteen year olds comment.  
  
”You know, kiddo, I wont even try to pretend that I know anything about how it’s been for you. God knows I have my flaws, but I would hope arrogance isn’t one of them. I’m sure it could’ve been _worse_ , but that most certainly doesn’t mean that it was either good or fair. Can’t measuring things by only looking at the worst case scenario, Billy. It’s simply not decent for a human to live like that. I’ve never layed a hand on a kid in my entire life and that’s how it’s gonna stay. And not only because of what you’ve been through. I simply don’t agree to treat kids like that. If it’s not legal to hit grown-ups, it doesn’t make any sense that it’s legal to hit kids that can’t even defend themselves…”  
  
The conversation had been completely overwhelming and left Billy dumbstruck. Hal must’ve seen how exhausted he was, because he’d taken his hand and patted it a little.  
  
”I believe this is enough talking for today, kiddo. Well, looking at you I guess it’s enough for a month or so. You look like my dad on Saturday afternoons, before supper was served. Damn… that came out rather weird…”  
  
Billy’d laughed. Hal was weird, alright. Normal was weird. Being stroked over the hair, spoken kindly to was weird. Most of the fear had gone, apart from the one small piece that was always present. A piece that wouldn’t go away in many years, but in that moment on the floor, Billy’d felt more relaxed than he’d been for a very long time. A little while later, when Billy’d taken a shower and put some clean clothes on, Hal ordered pizza and they had dinner while watching a soccer game.  
  
Billy still couldn’t relax enough to sit straight, but had his knees drawn tight to his chest while eating small bites and watching. Just as his first time at Hal’s dinner table had been a sign of ravenous hunger and not lack of table manners, Hal somehow understood that the crouched position in the sofa was Billy’s way of pulling himself together and get a sense of security again. Hal did what his lack of experience from raising a child told him to do: nothing. Eventually, he figured, this damaged kid would put his feet down, sit up straight and get used to regular meals. You just had to be a little patient.  
  
And when a nineteen year old Billy crouched in the same sofa, feeling quite sorry for himself – and very pathetic – for coming home crying over ”a bloody gang member from Dublin”, Hal had only scolded as little as he thought a good father could get away with for such reckless lack of self-preservation from a barely adult son. Billy’s self-comforting position had been the same one as five years earlier and Hal’s memory was _very_ good. He’d sat down next to the not so small kid and hugged him carefully.  
  
”There, there, kiddo… You’re not the first one to get a little stupid while being in love and I’ve already scolded enough, so I wont say another word about it if you promise me one thing.”  
”What?”  
”No more gang members. I don’t care how good looking, charming or whatever it is you find… _attractive_ in such lads, because if I as much as _suspect_ you of meeting that piece of shit or anyone like him again, I’ll go old fashion on him with my dads old rifle and then send you to the countryside to live with your aunt and uncle and their sheep until you’ve reached age of reason. Which at the moment I expect to happen around your mid-forties.”  
”Are you done?”  
”I am when you make a promise.”  
”Fucks sake, dad, I _didn’t know_ he was a gang member and _yes_ , I promise I’ll stay away from psychos!”  
”That’s all I needed to know, kiddo. And when you’re done crying over that piece of shit, we’ll order pizza, watch premier league and hope for the team with most Irishmen to loose.”  
  
***  
  
”Hello…? This is getting creepy.”  
”What?”  
”You’ve been staring at me for an eternity now and to be honest I’m a little freaked out by now.”  
  
_Fuck._ He hated this. When his mind took these trips down memory lane from the slightest provocation. As if the fact that John Silver, a neighbour who was hardly more than an distant acquaintance, had showed almost exactly the same skittish saccades in the door run, as Billy knew he himself used to get from getting badly beaten, was a portal to memories Billy prefered not to dive into. He could feel himself blush.  
  
”I’m… I wasn’t… God, this is fucking awkward. I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was staring.”  
”Is this something that happens to you often?”  
”Unfortunately, yes. Sometimes I just get, you know, caught up in some stupid thought and like… freeze. It’s hard to explain and you’re not the first one I’ve scared like this.”  
”Oh, I’m not _that_ easily scared. There are worse things than having a handsome guy staring at you, but I’m beginning to think that I said something stupid.”  
”Christ… I’m so lost, I don’t even remember what you said.”  
”I just asked you to go skinny dipping with me in the river.”  
  
John Silver had an impish smile that turned into a bright laughter.  
  
”You look absolutely terrified so I guess we’re even now. Joking apart, I wonder if I could return the favour. I mean, you’ve invited me for food and stuff, so I was asking if you’d let me take you out on a pizza date. No skinny dipping, just pizza and my questionable company. And I don’t mean date as in a date, just to be clear.”  
”Oh, good… Yeah, I mean I was… I’d love to.”  
  
_I’d love to?_ Billy wanted nothing but sinking through the ground, but his neighbor just nodded and his eyes were warm.  
  
”Great! Ten minutes outside?”  
”Um… yeah. Sure. I’ll just dump my bag.”  
  
John still smiled a little as he went back inside. The skin on the side of his left eye, poorly hidden under his curls, shined in red and purple.  



	2. The Whore And The Boyfriend (Tuesday Night)

Billy Manderly was quite the boyfriend material. For some reason, John had thought the friendly giant to be more stupid. In his experiance, guys looking like they lived at the gym often didn’t have much in their heads. That made them quite boring, but easy to handle since they were so predictable. John’s way of testing this very sweet neighbor, was something that would’ve gotten him a punch or two with most guys of that size, but Billy was… quite different.  
  
Teasing, pushing bigger men out of their comfort zones was one of John Silver’s specialties. And nothing made such men more uncomfortable than being treated like ladies by a shorter, thinner guy. Holding up the door for Billy Manderly resulted in a little smile, taking his jacket made him raise his eyebrows in silent amusement and when John pulled out the chair for him, in front of the young waitress who looked as if she was about to have an instant crush on them both, this well more than six feet tall giant answered with the sweetest smile. The poor waitress, who couldn’t be more than twenty, at the most, stammered when she took their order and was clearly relieved when they were done and she could leave. Billy seemed to be quite amused.  
  
”Poor girl…”  
”What? No, trust me, Billy, she’s in heaven now.”  
”She blushed and stuttered.”  
”Yeah, and is very happy for serving a handsome, romantic gay couple on a regular Tuesday night.”  
”Romantic _gay couple_?”  
”I’m kidding! But from her view, we look like a couple since I pulled out your chair. Trust me, she’ll be blushing until we leave and whenever she has a moment to spare, she’ll talk about us with that other girl, who’ll be disappointed since she’s having that family’s table.”  
”Jesus… What are you, a mind reader?”  
”Oh no. But I’ve been a teen.”  
”Me too. A very clumsy one that didn’t dare to look at others for fear of stumbling over my own feet.”  
  
John laughed. Smiling was something he did almost automatically, but he didn’t laugh very often and he found himself being more than surprised over the fact that Billy’s ironic comment and honestly surprised face showed a trace of self-perception John rarely saw in other men. He was handsome, but not vain. Always something.  
  
When they got their orders, John noticed with increasing release, that Billy ate slowly and didn’t comment on John’s choice of food or drink. Too many men were far too interested in what other men ate – or rather comparing it to what they ordered themselves. Before John had began in his current business, he had no idea just how important it was for many men to act ”manly” and measure their cocks by what dish and drink their dates chose. John’s vegetarian pizza with mushrooms, tomatos and fresh rocket salad on top only recieved a curious look from Billy.  
  
”I didn’t know you could have rocket salad on pizzas. Doesn’t it taste funny with baked salad?”  
”Oh, they put it on afterwards. Want to try it?”  
”Yeah, we can swap a slice. If you like chicken and bacon, of course.”  
”I sure do.”  
  
This was even funnier than making a bloke uncomfortable. Billy actually enjoyed the slize and said he’d reconsider his opinions on what was proper ingredients on a pizza. He didn’t lie, of that John was sure. Billy Manderly didn’t have a face that could hide emotions very well, so John decided not to make him uncomfortable.  
  
”That chick who ate with us, what was her name?”  
”You mean Abby?”  
”Yeah, Abigail or something, right?”  
”Uh-huh.”  
”I think I ran into her mother in the staircase the other day.”  
  
Billy smiled.  
  
”Go on. I don’t like her, she’s a religious nutcase and Abby secretly wishes to have her sent to deprogramming.”  
”Oh, that explains it.”  
”What did she do?”  
”Handed over a pamphlet of some sort. I didn’t even look at it before I threw it. I think she said something about eternal joy.”  
”Like that’s a thing.”  
  
_Cynical dude_. John started to enjoy this for real. Not only due to the nice food and Billy’s talking. It was very pleasurable having dinner out with someone else than a costumer, especially one who didn’t comment on how much you ate – or didn’t ate – or your looks. The bruise on John’s temple surely hadn’t gone unnoticed by the guy, but he didn’t look at it, nor did he try to look as if he didn’t see it at all – which was always more awkward – and the dinner turned out to be quite nice.  
  
Knowing that he didn’t have to suck, fuck or get fucked afterwards was a realisation John Silver felt a bit depressed about. Not that he didn’t have to have sex with Billy Manderly – even if he sure was  handsome and judging by his behavior seemed to be that kind of guy that actually cared a little about how he behaved in bed – but that eating out always had been connected with whoring in John Silver’s case.  


**Author's Note:**

> The "Neighbours & Flatmate" series is divided in different parts instead of only chapters, to make it a little easier for me to sort all the different stories out. To be clear: every part is linked, they're posted in chronological timeline and they're not made to be read as separate stories.


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